Skip to Content

Free TUAW iPhone app -- try it now!
AOL Tech

cad posts

Filed under: Design, web 2.0

Autodesk Dragonfly does easy, web-based home design


Looking for a quick and easy way to brainstorm some design ideas for your pad? Check out Autodesk's Project Dragonfly, a slick, web-based app that makes creating in two and three dimensions a breeze.

There's not much of a learning curve involved - click, drag, rotate, resize - it's all very intuitive. If you've played The Sims at all, you'll be right at home with Dragonfly. No, it's not a commercial-strength app like AutoCad, but it's at least as good as any of the boxed "3D home designer" programs I've played around with in the past.

Dragonfly makes arranging things easy by snapping to a grid and displaying guides to let you know when you're lined up with other objects in the room. To help align walls, doors, or windows, measurements are displayed when you add or modify an item.

There are loads of architectural and design elements to choose from, all categorized and fully searchable. Register for an account and you'll be able to save your designs and export them to JPG or DWG (you know, in case you want to ship it off to your architect or engineer).

While it's easy to use, Dragonfly is surprisingly powerful. It would be even better with some landscape design features, but who knows - perhaps that's something AutoDesk will add in the future.

Filed under: Fun, Kids, Windows, Macintosh, Freeware, Time-Wasters

Lego Digital Designer: virtual brick-building fun - TimeWaster

I've always enjoyed assembling models and contraptions out of Lego, and my four-year-old son is becoming quite a fan, too. Unfortunately, dad's stash doesn't always have all the fancy bricks required to meet his design requirements.

Thankfully, the good folks at Lego offer the Digital Designer, a 22mb free download that offers a rich, 3D program for crafting creations on your Windows PC.

We've been using it for quite a while, and the latest version sports a more polished interface, wider selection of pieces and backdrops, and reduced CPU and memory loads. It runs beautifully on my Frankenlaptop, a Core2 T5200 with integrated Intel video.

The interface is easy to understand, and several "starter kits" are included. They're a good way to see Digital Designer's impressive capabilities at work.

Read more →

Filed under: Business, Design, Adobe, Commercial

Adobe launches Acrobat 3D

Adobe Acrobat 3DToday Adobe released Acrobat 3D, a new version of their PDF authoring software aimed at the manufacturing sector. Acrobat 3D has all the features of Acrobat 7.0 Pro, plus it allows the user to import 3D models from major CAD packages into PDF files that can be viewed by anyone using the free Adobe Reader 7.0. If you have Reader 7.0 installed, you can check out a demo document at the page linked above. This is an excellent move on Adobe's part because it allows customers to view 3D designs without having to invest in expensive CAD software. Acrobat 3D costs $995 per copy.

Featured Time Waster

Graveyard Shift - zombie-busting Time Waster

With Halloween fast approaching, it's a great time to get in some practice defending your territory against zombies. In Graveyard Shift, you take aim at zombies and other creepy-crawlies, blasting them into splatters of cartoony green guts. It's a casual first-person shooter, and it's very easy to get the hang of - use the mouse to aim, click to fire. Graveyard Shift has at least 15 levels, and it might even have some secret stages I haven't unlocked yet. They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...

View more Time Wasters

Featured Galleries

Defective by Design, London: Protest Pictures
Microsoft Security Essentials
Chromium Pre-Alpha on CrunchBang Linux
Safari 4 Beta
10 Firefox themes that don't suck
IE8 RC1
Download Squad at the Crunchies After-Party
Download Squad at the Crunchies
WordPress 2.7
Cooking Mama: Mama Kills Animals
Windows 7 Hands On
Comodo Internet Security
Android First-look: Amazon.com MP3 Store
Android First-look: Twitroid
Google Reader Android
Android Hands-On
Twine 1.0
Photoshop Express Beta
Mozilla Birthday Cake
Palm stuff
Adobe Lightroom 1.1

 


Follow us on Twitter!

Flickr Pool

www.flickr.com

More Tech Coverage

AOL Radio

Joystiq

TUAW

Daily Finance

Autoblog

Urlesque

Engadget

WoW

Switched.com

FanHouse